A. What is an idiom? fixed expressions?

What is an idiom?

An idiom is a group of words with a meaning that is different from the individual words, and often difficult to understand from the individual words.

Here are some more common idioms.

• The teacher told us to get a move on. (= hurry; be quick)


• My wife and I take it in turns to cook. (= I cook one day, she cooks the next, etc.)


• I don't know the answer off-hand. (= without looking it up or asking someone)


• It's not far. We can take a short cut (= a quick way) through the park.


• I'm not very good at small talk. (= social talk; not about serious things)


• I'm sorry I can't make it (= come) on Friday.


• I asked her to keep an eye on (= watch / look after) my suitcase while I went to the toilet.

Fixed expressions

There are also expressions in English where the meaning is easy to understand, but the same idea in your language may need a completely different expression.

In other words, if you just translate from your language, you may say something in English which is completely wrong.

For this reason, you need to learn some expressions as idioms.

• a: What was wrong with the hotel?


• b: Well, for a start it was next to a motorway and very noisy. And to make matters worse, there were factories on the other side of the road, which stayed open 24 hours a day.

It's not a problem in the short term (= at the moment) but in the long term (= for the longer future) we will need to think about it and probably spend some money on it.

Using idioms

Idioms are important but they can be difficult to use correctly.

With many idioms, if you make just a small mistake, it can sound strange, funny, or badly wrong.

• get a move;


• a small talk;


• put an eye on,


• off-hands

Idioms often have special features:

• they may be informal or funny or ironic;


• they may only be used by certain people (e.g. young children, or teenagers, or elderly people);


• they may only appear in limited contexts;


• they have special grammar.

For these reasons, you can often 'learn' the meaning of an idiom but then use it incorrectly.

• After her husband died she was down in the dumps.
  (This idiom means 'sad and depressed' but is completely wrong here: the situation is too serious and the idiom is too informal.)

Easy idioms to use

Some idiomatic expressions are used on their own, or with just one or two other words. These are often the easiest to use.

• a: Are you coming?
  b: Yes, hang on. (= wait)


• a: Can I borrow your dictionary?
  b: Sure, go ahead. (= help yourself; take it; do it)


• a: What's up? (= what's the matter?)
  b: Nothing.


• a: I don't know which one to choose.
  b: Well, make up your mind. (= make a decision)


• a: I'm really sorry but I've forgotten to bring the book you lent me.
  b: That's OK. Never mind. (= it's OK, don't worry; it's not important)